East Bay steel workers spend emotional last day at plant

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Before his last day of work on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012, David Herrera of Bay Point tells his story of getting fired at Pacific Steel at his home in Bay Point, Calif. About one third of the staff along, with Herrera, were fired after an ICE raid revealed that 200 workers were in the country illegally. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Staff)

On his last day of work, David Herrera is photographed outside of his job where he inspects gussets used on trailers at Pacific Steel Casting Company on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012, in Berkeley, Calif. Fellow workers take a break where about one third of the staff along with Herrera were fired after an ICE rad revealed that 200 workers were in the country illegally. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Staff)

Only his mother’s grave, distant expression as she cleaned their already immaculate Bay Point home suggested this would be his last day at Pacific Steel, where he worked for more than a decade.

A recent federal immigration audit found that approximately 200 employees, a third of the foundry’s workforce, couldn’t prove they are legal residents.

The company has been firing those workers in groups each week since October; the most senior employees worked their last day this week.

“Since I crossed the border, I always knew this could happen,” said Herrera, 37, who has mapped out an escape route at every factory he has worked at since he came to this country in 1991. “You get used to living with it.”

Around noon, Herrera put on his yellow hard-hat and got into his truck. On the porch lay an identical hat — his wife’s, who was fired from the same plant a few months ago.

Pacific Steel is one of the largest foundries in the nation. The company started making steel parts for trucks and buses in the shadow of Interstate 80 in West Berkeley 75 years ago, when the now-posh neighborhood was predominantly heavy industry.

The quality inspection warehouse where Herrera has worked for 12 years is dimly lit and filled with the roar of machines and the clanking of metal. Herrera took his place sorting metal pieces that connect trailers to trucks.

The men working on either side of him were new hires.

One of them, Braxton Flores, took this job last month because the pay was better than at Home Depot. Still, the 20-year-old El Sobrante resident sometimes feels uneasy.

“It’s sad because some of these guys have families — two or three kids and a wife,” he said. “I’m young, and the only person I take care of is my mom.”

Herrera believes his family will lose its Bay Point home. He was in the process of getting a loan modification but will now be disqualified because he will have no paystubs to show the lenders.

He is planning to move his wife, mother and three children into a trailer and drive to Washington state, where illegal immigrants can get driver’s licenses.

“It’s going to change a lot of things,” he said. “I’m not materialistic, but my family is accustomed to having stuff like computers and a television.”

Herrera and the other departing workers said stoic goodbyes, shaking hands and assuring each other they would be fine.

But the workers staying on were more emotional. Jose Tamayo, whose children are friends with Herrera’s, cried a few times during the day.

“There have been layoffs before, but it never felt like this,” he said. “We know these guys aren’t coming back.”

Tamayo said he was shocked that so many of his longtime colleagues and friends were in the country illegally.

In an “I-9 audit” — a reference to the I-9 employment-eligibility form and sometimes known as a “silent raid” — investigators check the legal status of workers through the Social Security numbers and other records they supplied to the business when hired. In the cases of many illegal immigrants, that documentation is forged.

Pacific Steel is now checking on new hires with the federal E-Verify program, as announced by two large posters in the main office.

Herrera says he will not return to his hometown in Michoacan, not wanting to subject his children to drug-war violence. He also fears they would not be able to afford higher education there.

Honor student stickers and student of the month plaques adorn the walls of their home.

During an evening break, Herrera explained that when his daughter turns 18, she will be able to petition for her parents’ citizenship.

“It’s a long time — I feel like I am entering a prison where I have to wait to be free,” he said, watching the cars speed down Gilman Street. “But I remind myself, there are people dying right now crossing the desert to get what I already have.”

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